Health app success after hundreds enrol in BetterPoints scheme

Sutton residents have travelled 16,000 miles on foot after downloading a council-sponsored app encouraging sustainable travel.

Run in partnership with an organisation called BetterPoints, 327 people signed up to the pilot between July and December 2018 to help reduce car use and improve air quality.

The scheme offered rewards for walking, cycling, running, taking the bus or even scooting

Of those taking part, 81% said the scheme helped them change their leisure travel behaviour - and 55% said they would continue with the changes they had made to the way they travelled.

A council spokesman said: “This pilot scheme was a success and we will now look at whether we can introduce it more widely.

“We’d like to thank everyone for taking part. Of the 327 that signed up, more than 80% actively took part in the programme.”

Participants recorded 28,000 sustainable journeys and travelled 16,000 miles on foot - a distance almost equivalent to UK to Australia… and back again.

Other milestones included:

• Co2 saving was equivalent to taking 2 cars off the road for a year

• burning calories equivalent to 1,000 bags of sugar

• 51% changed their work travel behaviour

• 96% maintained or increased their level of physical activity

Once BetterPoints were earned, they were converted to vouchers to spend in shops, restaurants or donated to a charity.

The app was the winning solution to the council's Smart Place Air Quality Challenge which aimed to raise people's awareness of their impact on air quality and encourage them to change their behaviour. Smart Place in Sutton is about finding innovative solutions, including the use of digital technology, to improve the lives of people in the borough.